The Last of Us II - 60 fps PS5 patch out now

Tafdolphin wrote:

Fade wrote:

Tafdolphin wrote:I personally think the opening of the Abby section is mean to be an "Oh gooseberry fool" moment but that's not my major reservation. My problem is that it's taken 16 hours to say 'murder is bad.'

I'm actually enjoying this bit more as the characters aren't, you know, deplorable. It's still cheap as strawberry float though: laughed out loud at Bear reappearing.

I think the whole reason you play as Abby at the start of the game is enough of a clue for most people to figure out the game is trying to present two sides of the same story. But there were still a lot of people who finished the game and still wanted to kill Abby so I think there's plenty of un-empathetic or just plain stupid people out there

I do find it funny how so many people are like "hurr durr game says killing is bad" I've watched a few podcasts with Neil on and he makes it clear that that's not what they're trying to say at all, heck I remember when the first game came out he said He'd do exactly what Joel did if it was his daughter.

The focus is more on how Joel's actions have shaped Ellie's responses to things. That scene with Nora for example is more "Ellie is becoming Joel" rather than "Dis bad okay, lol"

But what is it saying about Ellie becoming Joel? What is she doing in that moment and what is the game saying about that action?

She's killing someone and the game is saying that's bad

Joel took away her purpose in life by stopping her from helping the Fireflies so ever since that moment she's been drifting through life with no real purpose, then she has a purpose again, to get revenge, but she takes it way too far because of all of the built up trauma she's been through. It's like a drug addiction, to where she even lies to Jessie at one point about stopping once they find Tommy

.

That's the plot yes. But the underlying message is the same from the very start of the game to where I am now, 20 hours in. The problem is, the game hammered that point home at around hour 5 and has spent the rest of it's runtime stating it in more and more obvious ways. It's repeating itself every new story beat.

Also it's kind of annoying how every time you see extreme violence you assume it's being used to shock you rather than for s narrative purpose, especially when the whole game give you the choice to inflict that kind of violence anyway.

Well firstly the game absolutely doesn't give you the choice. It specifically goes out of its way to make sure you the player is an active participant in such violence; the Nora scene does not let you continue unless you Press Square To Beat. Most combat arenas have exits that are only accessible once all enemies are dead.

There's a reason there are no non-lethal options: the single moral of the game would fall apart without you killing almost everything you see.

And secondly, it is absolutely designed to shock. The fidelity of the violence on display is horrific, from the slow, deliberate animations to the disgustingly amazing sound design. This was one of my issues with the marketing; it was showing off this fidelity completely out of context and it was... gross. Now I've seen it in context I still don't believe it's justified.

I love the Rashomon thing it's doing. I'm really enjoying the way it feels to play. It's a great experience. But there's a delusion of grandeur here that leaves a sour taste in my mouth and a hollowness at the centre of the whole endeavour.


EDIT: Trans character just got deadnamed. Check off another prediction